This invention relates generally to therapeutic type ambulating devices and more particularly to an improved weight relieving ambulator for helping and/or teaching patients, particularly children, to walk.
Various types of ambulators or walkers as they are sometimes referred to, are well known in the art. Some of these known structures incorporate hydraulic cylinder arrangements to raise an overhead arm supporting a patient to thereby relieve some of the weight of the patient. Others employ pivoted arm structures connected to a jacket or harness for supporting the patient.
Various problems arise with respect to the foregoing prior art structures, particularly in the case of children. First, the structures are relatively complicated and in the case of employing telescoping cylinders, binding can occur and thus frustrate the desired weight control action on the patient. Second, harness structures employed do not always support the patient in a secure manner to the control elements of the ambulator and yet permit sufficient freedom for the patient to move about. If prior art type harness structures are too restrictive in an attempt to properly secure the patient, movements of the patient are unnecessarily restricted, thus inhibiting the desire for the patient to learn to walk. The problem is particularly acute with small children wherein it would be desirable to provide as much freedom of movement as possible, particularly for the arms and hands of a child, so that they are free to explore, and yet provide the proper weight control on the child's legs.
Any such type of weight relieving ambulator should be so designed that no portion of the structure extends higher than the patient's head to the end that the patient can pass through low overhead doors, passages and the like.
Finally, any such weight relieving ambulator device should be completely adjustable so that it can readily be adapted to any sized patient. In this respect, a most important adjustment is the range over which the weight of the patient can be relieved. A not uncommon childhood disease known as osteo-genesis imperfecta (brittle bones) results in great difficulty in a child learning to walk. An ambulator of the type under consideration should be capable of relieving up to 90% of the child's weight and yet be adjustable so that progressively greater weight of the child can be on its legs until finally the full weight of the child is borne by the child's legs.